BY BETH ALLEN
November 2016
I waited. And waited. But no one was setting up any bay area van runs (not any that I was invited to anyway). I waited years.
Then I realized that I was tired of waiting. It was high time to get off my ass and set up my own van party.
I hit up my buddy Toby who drives a cool silver 73 Dodge B200 and we started planning a cruise route through the city. My friend Joe hooked me up with the awesome Scott Brennenstuhl from Kentucky who makes dash plaques. I hit up my two favorite local rock bands Hornss and Hot Lunch and got them on board to play. Toby recruited local rockers War Cloud. Local vanster Lil’ Tuffy said he’d silkscreen a poster... and it all started coming together.
I put word out that all types of vans were welcome — rust buckets or show-n-shines, didn’t matter. This cruise was about the van community and having fun rollin along with a bunch of other vans.
It rained the weekend before and after, but not on Rocktober 22nd. Fifteen vans pulled up to our meeting spot at 4pm. We hung out awhile and then rolled through the city, from Ocean Beach, through Golden Gate park, the Haight, Castro and Mission neighborhoods, and ended up at Thee Parkside. A few more vans joined along the way. It was a slow roll to show off our van convoy. Sad thing is that not many jaded San Franciscans seemed to "notice" that a string of cool vans were driving by. The ones who did however had smiles, thumbs up and cameras out for us.
At Thee Parkside more vans arrived. Aside from the bay area there were vanners from Sonoma, Truckee, Bakersfield, even Los Angeles. The word had gotten out. I’d say we had up to 30 vans parked along the streets outside the club. It was awesome.
The first ROLLIN’ + ROCKIN’ van cruise-in was a hell of a fun party. I couldn’t be happier. Killer tunes from my fav local DJ Big Nate Tynan. Killer sets from all the bands — thanks to 3 Stoned Women, War Cloud, Pushy, Hot Lunch and Hornss. And of course, lots of killer vans to check out! Here’s to all the vanners who showed up, rolled with us, hung out, and had fun. Can’t wait to do it again. Big thanks to my boyfriend Shonzie for all the help and making the cool video posted above.
I have a few dash plaques left for $5 ppd. Email me if you are interested in one: beth@rockinvan.com.
PICTURED ABOVE: (Top to Bottom) Flyer for the eVANt, poster by Lil' Tuffy, video by Shonzie, and one of the cool dash plaques by Scott.
